Kfir Kol - Marking Bike Trails in the Southern Arava
Date: 30.12.02
Course: Independent project
Professor: David Lehrer
Student: Kfir Kol
My final project is part of an initiative in conjunction with SABABA to mark and map 4 different bicycle trails in this region. Its purpose is to generate awareness about the area among the local people by traveling through it with bicycles. Throughout the semester, I surveyed this area to find the most attractive trails that have easy access from the kibbutzim and that highlight the significant historical, archeological and unique natural sights of the area. I
n an effort to choose the best routes, I also studied about the people who inhabited this area around 6000 years ago, reading about their traditional ways of life, including a wide range of activities such as hunting, grazing, agriculture (in Uvda valley), trade and copper production.
Doing this project was fascinating for me because I had one day each week that was dedicated to observe the nature around here by traveling in the desert. Thus, by searching for suitable trails I learned a lot about this area, was able to observe wild animals, identify unique local plants, and locate geological and archaeological sites.
One of the major obstacles to this project is that there is just one route in this area that is accessible for bicycles to get up to the mountains from this valley, which goes up from the Ketura junction. That placed a limit on the area that I surveyed, because in order to access other areas from the kibbutz by bike, the trails would be very long and I think that the trails should not take longer than 4-5 hours to complete. In addition, to save time I used "ROGHOMES" - which are a bunch of rocks standing on top of each other, to mark the trails rather than painting them.
My final product includes 5 marked trails and a map that can be used by people to follow them in order to provide the people in this area with the opportunity to educate themselves about their surroundings. I'm intending to expand this project next semester. Hopefully people will use these trails now that they are more accessible and learn to love this magnificent area, and keep it protected like it is. I think this project is important for the local communities that live here because it gives them a great opportunity to travel with bicycles securely into valuable environmental spots of this area. Hopefully, when developers try to use this area to meet their needs, there will be more people who appreciate this area as it is and care enough to keep it this way.
Course: Independent project
Professor: David Lehrer
Student: Kfir Kol
Abstract
My final project is part of an initiative in conjunction with SABABA to mark and map 4 different bicycle trails in this region. Its purpose is to generate awareness about the area among the local people by traveling through it with bicycles. Throughout the semester, I surveyed this area to find the most attractive trails that have easy access from the kibbutzim and that highlight the significant historical, archeological and unique natural sights of the area. I
n an effort to choose the best routes, I also studied about the people who inhabited this area around 6000 years ago, reading about their traditional ways of life, including a wide range of activities such as hunting, grazing, agriculture (in Uvda valley), trade and copper production.
Doing this project was fascinating for me because I had one day each week that was dedicated to observe the nature around here by traveling in the desert. Thus, by searching for suitable trails I learned a lot about this area, was able to observe wild animals, identify unique local plants, and locate geological and archaeological sites.
One of the major obstacles to this project is that there is just one route in this area that is accessible for bicycles to get up to the mountains from this valley, which goes up from the Ketura junction. That placed a limit on the area that I surveyed, because in order to access other areas from the kibbutz by bike, the trails would be very long and I think that the trails should not take longer than 4-5 hours to complete. In addition, to save time I used "ROGHOMES" - which are a bunch of rocks standing on top of each other, to mark the trails rather than painting them.
My final product includes 5 marked trails and a map that can be used by people to follow them in order to provide the people in this area with the opportunity to educate themselves about their surroundings. I'm intending to expand this project next semester. Hopefully people will use these trails now that they are more accessible and learn to love this magnificent area, and keep it protected like it is. I think this project is important for the local communities that live here because it gives them a great opportunity to travel with bicycles securely into valuable environmental spots of this area. Hopefully, when developers try to use this area to meet their needs, there will be more people who appreciate this area as it is and care enough to keep it this way.
Download PDF version of this page